Motor News

VW unveiled the ID.Buzz Cargo alongside the passenger version this week, with the panel van slated to be offered in Europe starting next year.The Cargo version was first previewed in 2018 with two concepts, as Wolfsburg mulled several versions of the base model.The panel van will offer 137.7 cubic feet of space inside, or enough for two Euro-size pallets, but it would face stiff competition from electric vans in the U.S.The journey of the Volkswagen ID.Buzz from concept to production has not been short, and prospective U.S. buyers have to wait another two years to actually receive their retro-style MPV when it goes on sale in 2024. But with the official reveal of the model this week, Wolfsburg certainly delivered on an EV in a segment that is unlikely to be contested for quite some time.Speaking of delivering, Volkswagen is also set to offer a panel-van version of the ID.Buzz that will land in a much more contested segment, one that has already seen a number of players. Unfortunately, the Cargo model is not slated to be offered stateside, and not just because of the chicken tax.The ID.Buzz Cargo was first previewed in concept form at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover, Germany, in 2018, showcasing the versatility of the MEB platform in a fairly compact package. The panel van, featuring two rear barn doors and a single side door, was previewed with 48.0- and 111.0-kW batteries at the IAA, while also showing off a solar roof that was promised to add as much as 9.3 miles of range on a sunny day. Equipped with the larger of the two batteries, the cargo version was also promised with a top range of 340 miles in the WLTP cycle, with a single 201-hp motor out back doing the work.

The interior features enough space for two Euro pallets.
Volkswagen

With the release of the full specs of the civilian version of the ID.Buzz, it’s safe to say the cargo version was due for some revisions when it came to planned battery options, as the demand for a massive (and pricey) 111.0-kWh battery has proved to be too much of a good thing. Rather, VW indicated the Cargo version will be offered with an 82.0-kWh (77.0 kWh usable) battery as the top option, giving it a range of 310 miles in the WLTP cycle, which will be closer to 260 in the EPA cycle. The automaker presented the Cargo version in short-wheelbase form this week, but a long-wheelbase version is on the way as well, at least in Europe.Volkswagen had already previewed a compelling contractor version of the ID.Buzz at the LA auto show in 2018, showcasing a storage and shelving system by specialist Sortimo, along with a 1760-pound payload capacity. Such a model was aimed at contractors that carry an extended supply of small parts and tools, rather than those who may need to transport something very heavy and bulky.

VW intends to offer the Cargo version in Europe starting next year.
Volkswagen

If the battery options might make the cargo version fairly compelling, other considerations have made the ID.Buzz Cargo moot for the U.S. market: size and a lack of body-style variants. The Cargo version is 185.5 inches long, which buys it enough room for two European-size pallets (which are smaller than U.S. pallets) with a total of 137.7 cubic feet of space inside. It would be adequate for some users, but it’s still in the category of boutique delivery vehicles rather than contractor vans.For comparison, Ford has just started production and deliveries of the E-Transit, which is offered with a choice of three lengths and three roof heights in addition to chassis-cab and cutaway versions. All models use a 68.0-kWh battery, along with a single rear-mounted motor producing 266 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. The high-roof, extended-wheelbase version serves up 487.3 cubic feet of cargo space and a maximum payload of 3800 pounds. The sheer variety and size of the E-Transit, which began testing in fleets late last year, easily eclipses the varieties of the ID.Buzz that Volkswagen is expected to offer in Europe, with the Ford cargo van starting at $47,185 before incentives and destination charges.Of course, Volkswagen could have made plans to offer the ID.Buzz Cargo in the U.S. market and would have found buyers, but the expected volume of sales would have likely been the deal breaker, along with the absence of a VW Commercial Vehicles sales arm here in the U.S.
So, as logical as the launch of the ID.Buzz Cargo versions may have seemed stateside at some point in time, VW was not in a position to replicate the variety of cargo models likely to be offered by other players, including BrightDrop. And perhaps Volkswagen learned something from Nissan, which last summer ended U.S. production of its NV Cargo, Passenger, and NV200 vans, due to slow sales. VW would have certainly found some buyers, while still having to circumvent the chicken tax via disassembly and reassembly, but as a delivery or work vehicle it would have existed in a segment that’s perhaps too small to address with such an entry.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stopped many imports into Russia, which resulted in a stoppage at Lada’s assembly plants this week.A Renault spokesperson in Russia (Lada models are made by Avtovaz, which is controlled by Renault) told Car and Driver that limited production will restart next week, but with some forced time off on down days.Last year, Lada models made up 21 percent of all new cars sold in Russia.The first cars under the Lada brand appeared in 1973 during the Soviet era, and the brand is such a symbol of the country that Russian president Vladimir Putin has frequently posed for photos behind the wheel of Lada vehicles. Now, economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have, at least for a time, stopped production of the iconic auto brand.The Wall Street Journal reported that Lada’s auto factories “ground to a halt” this week because sanctions left the Russian facilities without the components and supplies required to build new cars. Groupe Renault holds a 67.6 percent controlling stake in Avtovaz, the company that builds Lada vehicles. The Journal said that more than 20 percent of the parts Avtovaz needs are imports, which have mostly dried up in the last two weeks.

Lada Largus.
Lada

“If trade stops, Avtovaz stops,” a former Avtovaz board member told the paper. “Putin knows that he can’t do it by himself.” The board member added that it could take months or perhaps years to start up production again if Avtovaz loses support from Renault. For now, though, some sort of solution to the production stoppage is in the works, based on an Avtovaz statement about restarting car assembly next week. “The company is making every effort to be back to a normal production schedule at its plants in Togliatti and Izhevsk as soon as possible,” Sergey Ilinskiy, a Renault Group spokesperson based in Russia, told Car and Driver.

Lada Granta sedan.
Lada

The “ongoing crisis in the supply of electronic components,” Ilinskiy said, means that Avtovaz production will look different next week than it usually does. Assembly of the Lada Granta and the Niva Legend, for example, will run at full speed for two shifts over three days next week, but March 14 and 15 will be declared as “downtime days” with employees getting paid two-thirds of their average income. Workers at Togliatti who work on producing components will continue to make those items with an eye towards aftersales as well as once again assembling new vehicles.

Lada Vesta.
Lada

Meanwhile, Lada’s Izhevsk plant will continue preparations it needs to do to build the Vesta New Generation model, Ilinskiy said, but workers there who aren’t directly working on the car will be forced to take time off next week (Ilinskiy called it “downtime mode”). Ilinskiy said other Avtovaz functions and subsidiaries, like those involved with producing and distributing spare parts or customer service representatives, will continue working full time.This may be more than you care to know about the vacation schedules of Russian auto workers, but it relates to the fact that the ruble has lost around 30 percent of its value since the invasion began in late February. So opting to take time off sooner than later could be a popular move among workers who see the value of their money declining so precipitously. The Wall Street Journal said Lada vehicles made up 21 percent of all sales in Russia last year, and with foreign brands suspending their own production in the country as well as pausing imports into Russia, car buyers in Russia might be about to face a more constrained marketplace than the U.S. is dealing with two years into the pandemic. Russia has imposed its own export bans on over 200 products, the BBC reported, including vehicles.
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The next-generation Subaru WRX STI could be electric, according to a statement released today by the company.Subaru said it’s not building an STI version of the recently redesigned WRX using the car’s new platform.Subaru also hinted at expanding its performance-oriented STI brand to future models.The 2021 Subaru WRX STI could go down in history as the last STI model that was powered by an internal-combustion engine. Subaru today announced that the gas-fed WRX STI is dead, but also suggested that the next generation of the brand’s iconic model could be an EV. The company didn’t mention when a potential next-gen WRX STI EV might arrive, either.

Ever since the regular WRX sedan was fully redesigned on a new platform, we’ve been eagerly anticipating the reveal of its high-performance counterpart, the STI. We imagined it having an even more powerful version of the standard model’s 271-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four–something making closer to, say, 400 horses. However, Subaru now says that it won’t build an internal-combustion version of the next-gen WRX STI that’s based on the regular WRX platform.In an official statement, Subaru explained that its plans to focus on electric versions of its performance models were influenced by the auto industry’s move to electrification. Also mentioned were the goals of reducing emissions and complying with government fuel-economy regulations. Currently, the only electrified Subaru model on the market is the plug-in-hybrid Crosstrek. The company will add its first all-electric model this year with the 2023 Solterra, a subcompact SUV that was developed in partnership with Toyota’s bZ4X. Subaru also opened the door to potentially expanding its performance-oriented STI brand to future models. We’re not sure if that means the STI moniker’s potential expansion will include any gas-burning models or if every STI will be fully electric from now on. The company did show off a Solterra STI concept at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon, but we weren’t privy to any technical details.

Subaru

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Tech problems, swearing, and bubbling personal insecurities masked as automotive opinions? It could only be Car and Driver’s Window Shopping, the mostly but not always weekly video call in which we allow you to see why we’re always behind deadline.

This week’s challenge has C/D history: Find a station wagon and the parts to make it better, better, boss. Car and Driver has upgraded family haulers since the ‘60s, when the staff gamed the order sheet on a Plymouth Fury wagon with a muscle car’s 383 V-8. Since then, there’s been a Boss Wagon about every decade, with the most recent being K.C. Colwell’s Mazda 5 made speedy. The rules are loose: wagonesque shape and a plan for bossifying, with a $50,000 budget. Our bossy group included favorite C/D contributor Jonathon Ramsey; Road and Track’s John Pearley Huffman, resentful at not being introduced as favorite contributor; Boss Wagon expert K.C. Colwell; actual Car and Driver boss, Tony Quiroga; and wagon weirdo Elana Scherr. The choices include many rear-facing back seats, two non-lowering rear windows, enough woodgrain to build a (very thin) deck, several variants of Chevy powerplant, and a surprising overlap in wagon choice. Ramsey has technical problems with his Wi-Fi on the moon—or whatever exotic location he’s calling in from—and Pearley and Scherr discuss the correct usage of “fuselage,” as applied to Chrysler products. For the record, the full-size cars used it first. In the end, a winner is chosen for wild boundary pushing and possibly to wreak havoc on the self-esteem of the other participants. We need counseling, but we have wagons. Tell us what you would choose or suggest your own Boss Wagon ideas.

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• The Ferrari 612 Scaglietti from the early 2000s was not necessarily anybody’s choice for an all-time classic because it had kind of awkward styling.• It sure has stood the test of time, though, as have its 533-hp V-12 and six-speed manual with gated shifter.• This model is up for sale on Bring a Trailer. And, though the auction doesn’t end until Monday, March 21, bidding is already at $150,000.Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and it looks like that’s the case with this 2005 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti six-speed, currently up for sale on the Bring a Trailer auction site—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos.

In its own time, the 612 was something of an oddball—way more expensive and less powerful than a Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG, although it did beat the Mercedes CL600 (and the Bentley Continental GT and Aston Martin DB9) in a 2004 comparison test. But that win was in spite of its styling, not because of it. In that test, we paid passing mention to its “clumsy long-hood, cab-rearward proportions” and “unconvincing styling” and spent much more time waxing rhapsodic about how great it was to drive. A Ferrari V-12 absolves a lot of sins. A Ferrari V-12 hooked to a six-speed manual transmission with a gated shifter? It could be installed in a Kia Amanti and we’d still want it. But nobody had the 612 Scaglietti pegged as a future classic.

Bring a Trailer

Well, maybe it’s the special-order Azzurro Argentina blue paint or the setting of the photos here, but the 612’s Pininfarina-penned styling is aging quite well. Its soft curves are of another era, as is its powerplant: a 5.7-liter naturally aspirated V-12 that was rated at 533 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque. The BAT listing says that only about 60 manual-transmission 612s ever made it to the U.S., and that estimate tracks with what Ferrari told us at the 2004 launch for the car. Back then, Ferrari had 200 U.S. orders for the car, and 90 percent of those were for the F1 single-clutch automatic.

Bring a Trailer

This 612 has 15,000 miles on it, which strikes us as the right amount—it’s still essentially a new car, but you can drive it as much as you want and not worry about depreciation. The original sticker price was $271,664, including $2005 worth of options that are hilariously written in by hand (“stitches in blu medio, steering wheel in blu medio, painted metal strip on dash”). Above that line are 13 other options that are most notable for the one that’s missing: the automatic transmission. It’s pretty hard core to live in New York (where this car was first delivered) and go for the manual. Nice work, you ol’ plutocrat.

Bring a Trailer

There’s still more than a week to go on this one, so we have some time before we’ll know how much the world is willing to pay for one of the last V-12 manual Ferraris. But we’re already sure that the 612, once considered a bargain, is about to get its due.

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The 2022 Genesis GV80 adds a new trim level called the Prestige Signature.It’s a four-seater with second-row captain’s chairs that are heated, cooled, and power-adjustable.Only 600 units will come to the U.S. and this model costs $78,295.If you’re the type to be chauffeured in your Genesis GV80—or even if you just want to treat your kids to an ultra-luxurious back seat—then the new Prestige Signature model is your ticket. This new version of the mid-size luxury SUV comes with a four-seat layout that includes fancy rear-seat captain’s chairs that are heated, cooled, and power-adjustable. It costs $78,295—$4500 more than a loaded GV80 3.5T Prestige—and only 600 units will come to the U.S.Genesis hasn’t yet released a photo of exactly what the rear thrones will look like in the U.S. version, but we assume they’ll be similar to the setup available in the global GV80 (pictured below).

Genesis

The GV80 Prestige Signature also looks a bit different thanks to its 22-inch 10-spoke wheels and matte paint. It’s available in just two color combinations: matte grey with a black interior or matte white with a blue and beige interior.This Genesis isn’t cheap, but it’s a relative bargain compared to other luxury SUVs on the market that offer similar four-seat setups. The Lexus LX600’s new Ultra Luxury model starts north of $120,000, while the Mercedes-Maybach GLS tops $160,000. Volvo previously offered an Excellence version of the XC90 but discontinued that trim in the U.S. a few years ago.The standard 2022 GV80 is still offered as a five-seat two-row model or a seven-seat three-row model if you opt for the $69,095 3.5T AWD Advanced+ configuration. Pricing starts at $51,295 for a base 2.5T RWD model.

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Volvo will be rolling out updated versions of the S60 and V60 for 2023.The styling is slightly different, while the interior gets Volvo’s Android-based infotainment system.U.S. details aren’t available yet, but we expect these models to arrive within the next few months.Volvo’s 60-series sedan and wagon models will be freshened for the 2023 model year with updated styling and a new infotainment system. The S60 sedan and V60 and V60 Cross Country wagons all get a facelift, as seen in these photos, along with the Android-based touchscreen infotainment first seen on the electric XC40 Recharge and Polestar 2.

The design changes take a keen eye to spot and appear to include reshaped front and rear bumpers and new wheel options. Inside, the new software means different graphics and menu structure for the central touchscreen display. Volvo has yet to release more details on exactly which other changes this update entails but a spokesperson told C/D that more U.S.-specific information on the 2023 models would be available later in the spring.
We don’t expect any changes to the S60’s powertrain options, as it just received a new 48-volt hybrid B5 designation for 2022. The plug-in-hybrid model also gained a larger battery pack and more powerful electric motor recently. The 2023 V60 Cross Country may adopt this B5 powertrain as well, as it’s currently only available with the old nonhybrid T5 turbo-four. The V60 wagon without the Cross Country model’s cladding and suspension lift is only available in the U.S. in the 415-hp Recharge Polestar Engineered plug-in-hybrid configuration.Look for more specs and information to come soon, including pricing which likely will rise slightly compared with the 2022 S60’s $40,295 and the V60 Cross Country’s $47,295 starting prices.
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Small but highly respected German tuner Alpina has long built its own versions of BMWs.Now the firm is being absorbed into the BMW corporate universe after 57 years of an arm’s-length partnership. Development of new Alpina versions of BMWs will end at the company’s headquarters in Buchloe, Germany, after 2025, but that doesn’t mean the best isn’t yet to come for the brand under BMW ownership.Alpina has long been a colorful exception to the size and scale of Germany’s large automakers. The tuner was born from an unlikely diversification from office equipment into performance parts for BMW. The symbiotic relationship grew to the point that Alpina was building its own versions of BMW models with the larger company’s consent, even getting early access to future cars to allow it to plan its variants. In the United States, Alpina has distributed models like the well-received XB7 through BMW, but in other countries the two companies were, nominally at least, in direct competition.

But that is all set to end, with news that BMW is going to take full control of Alpina, bringing 57 years of partnership to an end and—it seems—ending the development and production of new variants in Alpina’s Buchloe, Germany, factory after 2025. Two reasons seem to be behind this, the first being the growing challenge of meeting increasingly tough compliance hurdles. “The politically driven transformation to electric mobility as well as tightening worldwide regulatory demands—especially on vehicle emissions, software validation, and requirements on safeguarding driver assistant and supervisory systems—means the demands and risks for small-series manufacturers are increasing,” Alpina said in its official statement. When we spoke to Alpina CEO Andeas Bovensiepen at the European launch of the XB7 in 2020, he admitted that electrification was a huge challenge that the small company would struggle to overcome.The second reason, paradoxically, is Alpina’s growing success. Despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was the company’s most successful year to date, with more than 2000 cars delivered globally. BMW clearly sees the potential to grow that number further and probably also to integrate Alpina into its wider portfolio in a similar way to the company’s own M division. (While M’s brief is pure performance, Alpina has always combined speed with increased luxury.)The official plan is for Alpina to continue to build versions of existing (and future) BMW models in Buchloe until 2025, at which point the brand will be fully absorbed into the corporate Borg. At that point, we presume, development and production will be handled by BMW’s facilities. The Bovensiepen family will also create a new company bearing its name, which will continue to work with classic cars (we presume still BMWs) but which will also offer engineering consultancy services to other automakers as well as BMW.

Alpina 3.0 CSL from 1971.
Alpina

We hope there will be more interesting Alpina-branded cars in the future, yet we also feel sadness at the passing of such an interesting, independent company, especially one that made such an art of automotive pinstriping.

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